
Whether you’re creeped out by or love goats’ rectangular pupils, you probably didn’t know this about them.
An illustrator and self-proclaimed goat lover, @s1120411 posts on his Twitter anything and everything yagi. From little comic strips of his original characters Little Goat and Wolf Boy (Yagi-chan and Ookami-kun), to adorable photos of goats, goats, and more goats. Like we said, EVERYTHING goat.
One drawing in particular that he recently posted, illustrating a little-known fact about goats’ eyes and their (in)famous rectangular-shaped pupils, caught the attention of many.
ヤギの目はいつでも「横向き」ではないのです。草を食べたり頭突きをするとき下を向くと「縦向き」になります!つまり「地面に対して常に横向き」なのです。 pic.twitter.com/gX8uqn1E9u
— Yagi the Goat (@s1120411) February 3, 2016
“Goats’ eyes aren’t always horizontal,” @s1120411 explains. “When they’re eating grass, butting heads, or generally just facing downwards, their eyes become vertical! In other words, their pupils are always horizontally parallel to the ground.”
It’s a simple little factoid, but one that not many people know unless they work closely with goats, which spurred amazed netizens to retweet the post over 12,000 times and curious commentors to wonder more about those mysterious oculars.
“I wonder if they were to roll forward, would their eye roll completely around too and twist their optical nerve? lol”
“I wonder what would happen if a goat went into space.”
“It seems their eyes do this to give them a broad view while grazing to help them keep a look out for predators.”
“Really? I wonder if cows are the same… Learned something new!”
(to above) “Cows, horses, and sheep too! It helps them from being attacked by carnivores.”
“Wow!! I always found their eyes kind of scary, but that’s amazing!”
If you, like the commenter above, found goats’ eyes to look a bit unsettling before, hopefully now you can understand and appreciate those rectangular pupils a little better now. As for the rest of us, we are now all the more wise about our four-legged friends!
Source: Twitter/ @s1210411
Top image: Backyard Herds via Reddit, Twitter/ @s1210411 (edited by RocketNews24)

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